Moose Mason
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Marmaduke "Moose" Mason (often referred to as Big Moose) is a fictional character in the Archie Comics universe. He is Riverdale High School's most intellectually challenged student. His lack of intelligence has later been somewhat attributed to dyslexia.
[edit] History
He consistently scores straight F's (which he thinks means Fantastic) and is Riverdale's number one athlete.
Moose is the personification of the Jock—all brawn and no brains. Moose's learning difficulties do not simply stem from stupidity, however-in one story, it was revealed that he suffered from dyslexia, which made it harder for him to understand what his teachers, such as Miss Grundy, were writing on the chalkboard. Moose has done better at school when he needs to, and is able to understand complex subjects like algebra if people explain them to him enough-something which nearly drove Reggie Mantle crazy when he acted as Moose's math tutor.
Moose is extremely possessive of Midge Klump, his steady girlfriend, and has time and again flattened anybody (Reggie Mantle is his most frequent victim) who seeks her affection. This possessiveness is at times taken to extremes - he's wary of any male even speaking to her, and has at times assaulted even his best friends, inflicting injuries that should, by all rights, be life-altering. There are times when Midge cannot stand Moose's jealousy and ends up scolding him, but every time he just wants to give Midge some space, she decides that she prefers the old Moose.
Moose has a deep admiration of Dilton Doiley (probably because of Dilton's intelligence) and will go to any length to help the diminutive genius.
Moose is blessed with such great strength that people often have high expectations of him when it comes to sports. He has helped Riverdale High School win many matches in basketball, baseball and football.
In Archie comics as late as the 1970s, Moose sported a flattop haircut. Also, in earlier days, whenever Moose talked he would start off with a "DUH." In today's Archie world, Moose isn't as dumb as he appears. He was offered a full football scholarship to a University. When he found out that they wanted to place him into "joke classes" so he would get good grades, he turned down the offer. When asked about it he replied "I may be dumb, but there's no reason for me to stay dumb!". He also briefly dropped out of high school, but returned upon realizing he would need a college education to get the jobs he would like to try. He seems to have tried both a modified moptop and a modified flattop in recent years
Despite his limited intelligence, Moose is very kind, loyal, and compassionate. He's always willing to help somebody in need, and he constantly protects his friends from bullies (often without using punches).
These tendencies may be inherited from one of his first ancestors to immigrate to the United States. In one story, a Russian by the name of "Lazslo Kharandashikov" befriended Archie Andrews's ancestor "Andy Andrews" when they met on the same ship immigrating to the U.S. Laslo protected Andy from another man who wanted to beat Andy up, and Andy returned the favor by finding Laslo's immigration money for him after Laslo nearly lost it. Laslo's difficulty in speaking English led him to give his name as "Mason" (from a sign he saw at the harbor) to the immigration officials who let him into the country.
In some stories one of the gang, usually Archie, asks for Moose's help with a problem that can only be solved by means of the big guy's strength or intimidating presence. In a story titled "Guardian Devil," Archie and Betty meet a runaway child whose hospitalized mother left the boy in her brother's care; but the brother locked the kid in his room and had wild parties in the house--until Archie brought Moose over to straighten things out. In another story, Archie had tracked down two thugs who robbed the Chok'lit Shoppe, using a description given by Jughead, whom the cops had found in the store and initially accused. The thugs had just started beating Archie when Moose showed up; he picked the thugs up like rag dolls and hustled them off to the police station.
[edit] Trivia
- In comic Spanish version, Moose is called "Gorilón" (lit. Big Gorilla).
- Moose is an expert pilot.
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